Agenda item

Report of Assistant Director, SWAP Internal Audit Services

The Assistant Director, SWAP Internal Audit Services, introduced her usual update of work conducted since the last meeting, including three reports – data maturity, disaster recovery (revenues and benefits), and an update on the voids process.  She also reported good progress with agreed actions, as set out in Appendix B, with nothing of any concern.   

The Chair invited the Head of Housing Services to speak about the voids process.  He said the report indicates a few challenges, predominantly around procurement and how CBH contracts were handled, and shared the following background information:

-       there are currently 125 void properties, 77 of which require major work, and 33 of which have been allocated to contractors. The best-performing contractor has taken on an additional 30 properties, which should be available by Christmas;

-       properties requiring minor works are reviewed weekly, and the voids team is now fully resourced and working hard, with the aim to complete 10 minor voids every week; this work is progressing well;  

-       having gone through procurement, we now have trusted contractors, have turned a massive corner, and are seeing good progress;

-       voids are not static, with about 20 terminations every month as tenancies end;

-       voids are a concern not just because of the rent loss but also because there are a lot of people waiting for homes.  We now have a 100% satisfaction rate at sign-up stage, with new tenants happy with the quality and condition of their properties;

-       new-build sites such as Regency Village are welcomed, but also create more voids;

-       each operative now has their own property to work on from start to finish, taking ownership and making it easier to manage productivity and keep track, and more accuracy about getting properties back means the lettings team can start advertising and viewing earlier, making immediate occupation possible and minimising the void rent loss;

-       changes are being made to improve the quality and finish of the end product, such as the use of aqua board and splashbacks instead of tiles in showers and kitchens which are easier to install and maintain.

He said it has been a steep learning curve, but continuing on the current trajectory will bring voids to an acceptable level by the end of January – although there will always be a certain amount with tenancy turnaround.

The Chair thanked the Head of Housing for this useful operational oversight, and checked that the management policy was on target.  The Head of Housing confirmed that tenant consultation is complete and this will be considered by Cabinet Housing Committee on 28 November.   It includes aspirational performance targets and introduces some new stages to speed up the turnaround of properties. He hopes it will be embedded by the end of the year.

Regarding the failures and findings of the audit, a Member asked if the list is complete or whether others have come to light since work began, having noted a discrepancy between the open actions on the progress summary table and those on the action tracker, where there is only one item outstanding for CBH. The Assistant Director SWAP said the voids showing on the list are CBC’s and CBH’s combined, and that the CBH one brought forward is with a separate partner and needs to be kept under review.  She said she would check with her colleague if any other control failures have come to light since work began and email Members.  ACTION

Regarding disaster recovery, a member of the committee didn’t understand the reference to IT officers’ advice on longer recovery times due to the systems being approximately four times larger – he asked for clarification and how this would apply to the shortfall in disaster recover.  The Assistant Director SWAP said she would email the answer to Members.  ACTION

Turning to data maturity, the Assistant Director SWAP said the Monitoring Officer had asked for this piece of work, to consider CBC’s data maturity appetite to support the work she is doing.  She said the attachment shows the assessed framework for CBC to work on going forward, and although she normally just brings the first page of the report, said she would share by email more information to show what CBC is working towards ACTION 

A member of the group with significant experience in this field made the following comments:

-       he suggested that a macro document was needed, setting out the council’s vision for data, risk appetite, accessibility goals, and any design authority to ensure no-one can procure without agreeing with the council’s data standards;

-       regarding data architecture, he would expect to see a schematic, showing understanding of different data sets and the terms of licensing around that, for example managing the problem of getting data out when moving from one system to another, and the legal team looking at the company providing data when procurement is made, how often are its terms and conditions changed, have these been seen etc;   

-       he asked about capability and accountability, whether we have a data owner for each of the data sets, whether the skills sets and knowledge they need have been defined, and whether they are signing an annual assurance plan.  This list is not exhaustive, and he asked if the council has that as an understandable and comprehensive risk management process that feeds back in;

-       he suggested this is needed so that auditors can ask the right questions, and could foresee a lot of work if not, with commentaries that the directors concerned didn’t agree but had no definitions or assurance document. Without that kind of document, he felt sympathy for the auditors trying to present information to the committee in a way they can reasonably understand.

The Assistant Director SWAP said she would share the attachment for the report, and would be catching up with officers soon to do another piece of work on this.  She suggested inviting the member to join them to share his experience.

The Chair suggested that the organisation appears to have a lot of work to do before it can be properly audited.  The committee member said for the benefit of those concerned, it would be easier if they know everything they need to understand about corporate standards and what they are expected to do things.  The Chair said it was difficult without officers present to explain, and noted that the Assistant Director SWAP says a lot more work is needed before we can move on and get into the normal audit cycle from which we can see what actions are required.  He welcomed the suggestion that officers liaise with the Assistant Director SWAP and use the expertise of the committee member.